Loved the Sharpe series, and Bean was great in it.
The rifle users were the better soldiers and shooters, the “chosen men,” the Corporals, while regular infantry had the smooth bores.
I loved the Sharpe series too. I've also really liked all of Bernard Cornwell's novels that I have read, and have watched "The Last Kingdom" which is a tv adaptation of his novels about Britain in the days of Alfred the Great.
If you liked the Sharpe series, you might want to check out the
Recollections of Rifleman Harris, a first-person account of a soldier in the same regiment as Plunkett, who served in the Peninsula Campaign as well as other places. Apologies if you are already familiar with it.
It's a very interesting and engaging account of the life of a common soldier of the time. Some may have thought of them as "the scum of the earth," but Rifleman Harris was the "regular Joe" of his day and I appreciated reading his memoir.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Recollections_of_Rifleman_Harris
https://www.amazon.com/Recollections-Rifleman-Harris-Benjamin/dp/1515419460/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=